I suppose they are called test matches because they test the patience of the most loyal English supporter. It looks as though by tomorrow it will be all over bar the shouting and the Ashes will be back in Australia's hands. It is difficult to work out exactly what went wrong, although it has to be said that England's for since winning the Ashes has not been good.
Several of the better players are missing including the captain, and it seems that giving the capataincy to Flintoff was as big a mistake as giving it to Botham in 1981. They are similar sorts of players. Their cricket is instinctive rather than thought out, and captaincy requires a thinker. No doubt having to run the match threatens one's own form for a while, but a good captain is worth his place even if he averages 25 with the bat as long as he induces the other batsmen to average over 40 and the bowlers to take wickets. Captains who are tyros with either bat or bowl tend not to bring out the best in the rest of the team.
This England team is young and inexperienced, with too many not used to Australian wickets. Nowadays the tours are so short and the games so few that there is little time to bed into the pace of the ball of the wicket and, especially in Perth, to the bounce.
My son flies to Melbourne on Christmas day. It looks as though it will be a dead rubber byefore he arrives.
Terry
ReplyDeleteDon't give up just yet, in the test this time last year against Sth Africa the first two innings were 270 odd, with Australia setting Sth Africa a chase of about 500 on the last day and a half, Sth Africa hung on for a draw only losing 5 wickets.
On the other hand the little urn it took England 16 years to regain may be coming home to it rightful holders after only 15 months. :)
Terry
ReplyDeleteWell your son could always go shopping in Melbourne.......can I have his ticket?
Michael
English sporting fans have long been used to hard times, and the losing habit looks set to continue in today's cricket test in Perth, where chances are the Ashes, one of England's few remaining trophies, will be surrendered. But such losses are more than a blow to national pride: they may have health implications for British sporting fans, with research showing a link between losses in close matches and heart attacks. A recent Australian study has found that while there's evidence English fans can't handle close matches, Australian supporters are more resilient.
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Enclosures:
r120935_385708.mp3 (930 KB)
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200612/r120935_385708.mp3
Ooops sorry Terry correct url is
ReplyDeletehttp://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200612/r120935_385708.mp3
EEEK
ReplyDeleteIt has an MP3 extension on the end.
At least England has a record for today, The shortest "holding" of the Ashes ever, :)
ReplyDeleteThe poor performance of this England team must say something about how Ponting's side managed to lose them last time out. My experience with touring with a cricket team makes me think that performance on the field is not uppermost in the mind of the players.
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